Know the Eczema Symptoms and When to See Your Doctor

One of the skin diseases that can alarmingly afflict a greater number of people through the years is eczema. Also known as atopic dermatitis, it chooses no gender, for both male and female can be equally affected by eczema symptoms.

25-30% of the western population may be genetically atopic, thus prone to astma, hay fever and eczema. Eczema in particular, affects 5-15% of school children and 2-10% of adults.

Atopic dermatitis shows a strong relationship to social class, but in contract with many diseases it is significantly more common in higher social class groups. It is also more frequent in children from smaller families. The disease has a higher prevalence in industrialized countries and in urban vs rural areas, aspect linked to the allergic sensitization of the skin associated with the western lifestyle of increased use of detergents and reduced microbial exposure.

The physical impact of eczema symptoms depends on the severity of the disease and can range from annoying dryness to severe itchy skin with painful cracking, weeping and secondary infection. More specifically, here is a list of manifestations of eczema symptoms that you should watch out:

• There is an intense itching of the skin that sometimes it interferes with sleep. Usually, eczema appears on the neck, the flexures of elbows and knees, the torso and the face.
• The rashes only appear later, which in turn develop redness and fluid-filled bubbly lumps. When scratched, these bubble-like bumps pop out and add wetness to the overall appearance of the injured skin.
• The burning sensation is felt most especially after it is scratched.
• The skin oozes and becomes crusty.
• For adults, chronic rubbing thickens plaques of skin
• Painful, ugly cracks and open sores with crusts develop in time.

When do you need to call your doctor?

Below is a list of extremities that should call the attention of your dermatologist:

• If a long history of allergies runs in your family, you cannot get away with eczema by merely applying home remedies to alleviate the pain.

• If within weeks of applying creams and other ointments, eczema symptoms remains

• The cracks resulting from your rashes turned from red into a yellowish crust and you develop pus-filled blisters over eczema patches, as this may indicate supra-infection

• You are exposed to people with diseases who can contaminate you easily because of open pores